Residents honor past and present military

Oceanside, Coronado continue tradition

Virginia St. John of Lakeside shows her support for the military at Coronado’s 62nd annual Independence Day Parade on Saturday. The parade’s theme was “A Salute to America’s Heroes.”
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

Virginia St. John of Lakeside shows her support for the military at Coronado’s 62nd annual Independence Day Parade on Saturday. The parade’s theme was “A Salute to America’s Heroes.”
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

The sky was overcast and a chilly wind whipped, but the patriotic spirit was bright and the small-town sentiment warm for both Oceanside’s and Coronado’s Independence Day parades Saturday. The military towns paid homage to the country’s armed forces with processions filled with flag waving and fighting might.

Thousands of locals — many sipping hot coffee and some huddled under blankets — lined Coast Highway between Wisconsin Avenue and Civic Center Drive in Oceanside to cheer on the throngs of marching scouts, bands, baton twirlers, military and civic groups.

“We’ve been coming to the parade since I was little, and I was in it marching with the Brownies and Girl Scouts and the swim team,” said Laurie Alexander, who was there with three generations of her family.

Shrouded in a red fleece blanket with her daughter Nicole and family friend Natalie Reece, Alexander said, “We have always had fun. We especially like the marching bands and the firetrucks.”

With the theme “Celebrating 68 Years of Military History,” Oceanside’s holiday procession featured more than 90 entries. Presiding as grand marshal was George Brown of the Armed Services YMCA.

Dotting the route was the 1st Marine Division Band, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Women Marines Association, American Legion Post 146, Disabled American Veterans and Camp Pendleton’s Marine Corps Mechanized Museum with an impressive rolling display of military might that included an M-923 cargo truck outfitted with an M198 howitzer.

And there was glamour. Dressed in a merlot-striped strapless gown, tiara and full makeup, Lauryn Moses was looking forward to presiding over her first parade since being crowned Miss Oceanside in May.

The members of her court — Miss Teen Oceanside Demi Mundo and princesses Bridggette Hoffman, Elise Cruz and Jacqueline Montano — were all shivering in their strapless gowns and hair bling as they rode in two candy-apple red Ford Mustang convertibles representing the Oceanside Sea Lions Club.

“It’s usually warmer,” fretted Lions Club President Zucette Lumabas. “But the community loves this. It makes us more cohesive, gives us togetherness.”

In Coronado, hundreds of people, some who arrived before 5 a.m. to stake out good viewing spots, lined Orange Avenue to watch the 62nd annual Independence Day Parade, a hometown tradition with a military flavor.

“Remember Pearl Harbor!” an announcer blared over a speaker as a float of the battleship Arizona slowly made its away along the parade route. Members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association dressed in military uniforms waved at the crowds who cheered them on. “We remember,” one man shouted.

Sgt. Major Bill Paxton led the Marine Corps West Coast Drill Instructors Association float, where active-duty Marines re-enacted the famous World War II Iwo Jima flag-raising photo. Three Iwo Jima veterans rode with the group.

“It was just awesome. The people’s appreciation and patriotism that’s what makes it worthwhile,” Paxton said.

The parade’s theme was “A Salute to America’s Heroes,” which longtime Coronado resident and amateur photographer Rich Baldwin, 60, agreed was the right tribute, particularly for aging World War II veterans.

“It’s one of those groups that’s getting smaller every year. It gets more important every year to see them,” said Baldwin, who expected to take 300 photos of the parade.

Lisa Jessee, 35, and her sons, Noah, 4, and Gabe, 2, sat on a sidewalk eagerly awaiting their personal hero — her husband, their father — marching with members of the Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron. “It’s great. We’re proud,” she said.

In Oceanside, this Fourth of July pride almost didn’t happen.

Economic hard times were felt in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Unlike in years past, Saturday’s parade did not culminate in the O’fest street fair, and near the parade’s staging area a sandwich board proclaimed: No Fourth of July fireworks this year.

“It was not going to be held this year because of finances,” said parade committee chair Jan Gardner. “But we had a group of business owners and citizens who said, ‘We need to have our parade.’ So a few of us volunteered to keep it going.”

In February, the committee began raising the $15,000 needed to defray the cost of the Police Department’s services as well as those of the city’s public works and special events departments. Seventy volunteers cheerfully worked the event.

“The community really came together,” Gardner said. “This truly is a community parade.”